'Tis the night before Hallow'een...

The cat brought in a giant, spotty slug and left it on the sofa where I would poke it thinking it was some sort of scrap of fabric... only to find it was a giant, spotty slug with its head chewed off.

There were giant things rustling in the reeds as the dog and I nervously walked to the street lamp around the corner. Neither she nor I wanted to linger tonight. Rustle, rustle, rustle. More scary to imagine what it was--nine-foot tall psychopath? zombie deer? baskerville hound??? inflatable Grim Reaper gone walkabout???-- than to see (soft-eyed doe deer??? raccoon???)

Back home, footsteps followed us--heavily--up the stairs.

The cat needs to go on a diet, again.

Patterns in the sand

Sunday evening, at Smith Point beach. Feels like forever and yesterday since I was here. There is a four-foot drop where the storm fought the sand: scoured away or pushed up onto the beach or both. No doubt it will smooth itself back down within a couple of weeks, but this evening it is a shock.

The tide as far out as I have seen it here. Big shells for collection. Few people, distant along the shoreline.

On the dunes, the wind has made patterns in the sand. Ripples like water. Circles where dry seeweed, trapped by one end, has blown round and round. Holes like footprints around each pebble, scrap of wood, or never-disappearing cigarette end. Footprints made monstrous: a small dog's tracks, tiny gap between each, has become a great dane tiptoeing a couple of inches at a time.

The sun setting in a wind-cleared sky. The trees are red.

Autumn sunrises

The sun is getting out of bed further-and-further south. It reflects off the clouds, it reflects off the water. It's still bright, and it's still warm when it's shining. The sky is big above the horizon today, pale turquoise, faded at the edges.

Happy cat

She was asleep like this for hours...

Reeds in autumn

The reeds are flowering--all these heads of shiny silvery seeds, no wonder they spread for miles and miles and miles. There is a small run-down house right next to the beach, with a fenced-in yard. The heads of the reeds stand, inside the fence, higher by about a foot or even two. I suppose that if you open the gate, all you will see is the stems of the reeds.

The marshes are red

There is a plant out there that is turning red as autumn advances. Like trees' leaves turn to red and gold, this whole plant is doing the same.

Poppies, lupins foxgloves and lilies-of-the-valley

They all arrived in a cardboad box, desperately in need of planting. I was not ready. The borders have not been prepared. So I have planted them in little gaps in the raised garden border, hoping I'll remember where they are, hoping they will root and flourish there in the sandy soil--and then I will replant them later when they are stronger.

So:

- Lily-of-the-valley are in front of the pond
- Three foxglove plants at the rear of the left-hand border, near the small box
- Lupins are in the old herb garden mixed in with the purple cone flowers
- Various oriental poppies (Turkulis, Laurens Lilac, Royal Wedding, Queen Alexander, Prince of Orange and Brilliant Red) are mostly in the right-hand border, and in the front right corner, but also one in the right corner near the pond and a couple in front of the pond.

I hope I recognise them when they grow leaves!

Painting painting painting

I have started painting the hall. It's a shade from Behr called Wanderer. I alternate between calling it Duck Poo or Slime. It's really really different. One coat of tinted primer, plus two coats of paint so far, and it's still a little streaky, especially in the corners where the roller can't get (but where it can scrape the previously-painted wall). One more coat should do it (famous last words...) It's the back wall of the entry hall, so what you'll see when walking in is this startling colour plus a bright white pillar at the bottom of the stairs.

I gave in and called a painter to help with the "great room". After looking at the height of the ceiling, and the seven little windows that are impossible to reach from my step ladder, and all the other painting I have to do, and all the furniture and stuff still stuck in bedrooms and bathrooms, I decided that the credit card could handle another 1000$ . And so by tomorrow evening, all the floors, ceiling and window trims will be done. Then all I have left to do is paint the doors, buy the skirting board and door trims and install and paint them, and rearrange the furniture.

It feels good :-)

Stirring up a hornet's nest

They are swarming outside the office. Yuck. I do not like wasps. I do not like hornets. I can admire their "beauty" and the wonder that is nature BUT I feel as much for wasps as some people do for snakes and/or spiders (which I don't mind at all).

Call is in to pest control guy. I hope he's another Spiderman.

The marina

Just realised I hadn't posted any pics of the marina, a couple of streets away. These are from this weekend. There are three marinas in the village, but this is the only one I know so far!

Snakes on a blog. Well... one snake on a blog. A flat one.

It was in the street all curled up and squashed and the wrong way up. I lifted it by its tail and laid it flat. Flatter than it already was that is. It's been steamrollered. Ironed.

I think it is just a garter snake, but bigger than any I saw in Sac.

Look at the kitchen!!!!

Sunday evening at the beach

Just as the sun was going down, we went to the beach. Few people, still warm. Water calm and turquoise.

Poison ivy... treeeeee

I was in the back just cutting a few vines so that they will go brown and dry and I can stomp them in a few weeks... saw a few poison ivy leaves, avoided them (Walter at the beach showed me the blisters on his hands this morning, now I know exactly what it can do)... and then noticed a couple of intertwined trees. One of the twining trees was the marsh elm. One of them was poison ivy, and it's trunk was as thick as the real tree. It just had little roots growing out of it. All the way up. Yuck. It doesn't give me blisters, it just gives me the creeps.

Radiators

Saturday, I went to Home Depot and bought what I thought were replacement covers for the living room baseboard radiators. These radiators are like bare pipes with a million metal fins sticking out from them. When they are installed, they have tidy clean covers on them, but all the houses I saw while house-hunting in New York had tatty, broken covers. So I would very much like to make ours nead-and-tidy. You can buy really nice--and really expensive--custom metal or wood covers, but for now I just want something clean.

So I bought four six-foot, one four-foot cover and two end pieces.

The end pieces were both right-end pieces so I messed up there (well of course there are different ends for left versus right).

Opened the box for the four-foot length and discovered that I would not only have to remove the old cover, but also the finned hot-water pipe. No way that is going to happen this week. Then had the brilliant idea of using the new front pieces of the cover to replace the old tatty one. They didn't fit... but I found out how to remove the old ones, and how to re-place them correctly. So that they work.

This morning, I returned the covers to Home Depot, (180$ cash), and bought heat-proof spray paint (four cans, total 20$) (I liked that). Then I went into the garden center and spent 80$ on new ceramic pots (which may well crack in the winter freeze), a Shasta daisy, and a load of purple, white and peach pansies. So much for saving money.

City

In the city

Was in New York for a few days. Good trip. I have to make the effort to hop on the train more often: I like the city, the energy, the buzz...

The building with the carvings and the dragons is the Petrossian restaurant on W. 58th Street. The stonework is amazing... one day I may have to go taste the caviar there.

The finished deck--almost

I just have to stain it now, when the wood has seasoned a little. Then add brackets for hanging baskets for planting next spring.

It's not finished yet

... but hopefully by this time next week... maybe...

The way they met up the kitchen tile and the hardwood floor looks good. The floor is mostly still covered in cardboard to protect it until everything has been installed. Countertops arrive next Monday, a few other things need to be finished before they are installed, and then once all that is done the appliances can be hooked up and we can eat properly again.

Egret

Now I remember why I bought the big zoom lens. I also remember why I bought the tripod. Now I just have to remember to use it... once I can find it.